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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27374584">For the Trees II</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_little_owl/pseuds/the_little_owl'>the_little_owl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>For the Trees [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Prequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-08 20:28:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,626</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27374584</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_little_owl/pseuds/the_little_owl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>To make up for his Padawan's discomfort about deforestation (see Jane Sehrn-Ta's fic "For the Trees, Part I at https://jane-sehrn-ta.livejournal.com/137594.html), Master Dooku decides to get his hands dirty.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>For the Trees [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1999663</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>For the Trees II</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Master Dooku wiped the sweat from his brow and focussed on healing the blisters on his hands. When was the last time he had felt as exhausted and utterly grimy -- and had not been in a war zone or fighting pirates?</p><p>The disastrous three weeks training with Master Yoda in the swamps of Dagobah came to mind. Yes, probably back then. He had been eaten alive by insectoids of all kinds and stalked by swampigators, while Master Yoda sat on a log and gave smug orders, supposedly furthering his grasp of the Living Force. Padawan Dooku had hated every minute of it.</p><p>Thirteen years later, he was a Master in his own right. And what had he done? Volunteered to spend the rare downtime the Order granted him to plant trees on Trionde! But, well, at least his Padawan was happy now.</p><p>Master Dooku watched Qui-Gon hoe the soil, put another sapling in place, and step carefully around the tiny plant to fasten the earth around the roots. Then he would go a few steps forward to where the next sapling was waiting, to hoe and transplant the want-to-be tree into he ground.</p><p>In training, as well as in everyday life, Qui-Gon had become self-conscious about his lanky frame recently. He fidgeted without need as if he expected his limbs to be twice as long as they actually were. Here, however, he had lost himself in the flow of the bleak Agricorps work, and he looked graceful.</p><p>If it hadn't been for the awful T-shirt that the accursed tree-huggers had given Qui-Gon, he would have stared even longer at his Padawan's back. It was grimy with the dusty soil and Qui-Gon's sweat, but the shirt also showed a grinning tree that hugged two equally stupid grinning Triondeans with its branches. 'Trionde Tree Friends Club', it said.</p><p>He didn't let his gaze linger on that example of bad taste. Master Dooku took his own hoe to hand and went to the next homeless sapling. <em>This is your penance for taking as Padawan learner, the one boy who stated that he was not afraid of the Agricorps!</em> the Master chided himself. <em>What you interpreted as great courage was merely a sign that the boy loves plants!</em></p><p>
  <em>Who loves plants to such a degree that he feels the Living Force 'crying' when several acres of trees are cut down to make place for a legislative district.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>All right -- it has a certain charm. Not that you can let Qui-Gon get away with this faintheartedness for long. A Jedi should know compassion, but not to the point that it distracts him from his duty.</em>
</p><p>Volunteering to spend their downtime with the reforestation campaign sponsored by the Agricorps and the Triondean environmentalists had seemed like a great idea to cheer up the boy after the Illeanic tree massacre. It had given him a warm and fuzzy feeling to know that he had made his Padawan happy. More experienced Masters had once warned him. They had called it the 'Make Your Padawan Happy' trap: "If you're not very careful, the kids will soon be leading you around by the nose, you'll see."</p><p>No, his Qui-Gon would have bitten back the pain and moved on -- like he had on so many other missions. It had been high time for a break, for something his Padawan would enjoy.</p><p>It should have concerned him though, that Master Yoda in person had come online as soon as he had contacted the Council to inform them about his change of route to Trionde. "Granted it is, granted it is!" The troll had cackled like mad. "Do you good it will! A lot about the Living Force you have yet to learn!"</p><p>Master Dooku failed to see what he was learning. He hoed, put the tiny tree into the ground, and stepped around the clod of earth, just as the Agricorps workers had shown him. But he failed to see what lesson this should teach him. Aside from the knowledge of how many blisters one could acquire in one day, perhaps.</p><p><em>I could be at the art fair on Alderaan now,</em> he thought sullenly, <em>or at home, soaking in a deep tub. Or reading another tome about the history of the Sith, while the boy disappeared to the meditation gardens, but all I do ...</em></p><p>"You look like you could use a break, Master," Qui-Gon's voice roused him from his self-pity.</p><p>Self-pity didn't befit a Jedi Master, and Master Dooku schooled his features into a smile before looking up. It was a tired smile, but it became a genuine one when he saw his even dirtier, but completely happy Padawan, holding out a bottle of water to him.</p><p>"Thank you, Qui-Gon." His gratitude for the break and the drink was heartfelt.</p><p>"You shouldn't feel sad that the Triondeans didn't accept your suggestions to speed up this work using droids and tilling machines," the Padawan said. "Of course this work could be done more efficiently, but planting trees together is the Triondean way to further international understanding. Seeing that they're not willing to form a planet-wide government... well, in time they'll certainly see the advantages of working together."</p><p>Master Dooku chuckled. "And here I stood, merely bemoaning the accumulation of my blisters." He took a swig from the cool water. "But I thank you for your encouragement, nevertheless."</p><p>If he were honest, Master Dooku considered the roughly one hundred presidents and prime ministers of this planet to be complete and utter idiots. He watched the dozens of environmental enthusiasts around them planting trees, hoping to further their planet's healing by that. <em>You'd better instigate a revolution first, and get rid of your rulers ...</em></p><p>"I could finish your row while you heal your hands," Qui-Gon suggested in the meantime.</p><p>Master Dooku let go of his plans for Trionde and looked along the rows they were working on. His Padawan had already planted his own row of knee-high treelings.</p><p>"Let's do it together," he suggested.</p><p>Hoe, put tree into soil, step around clod - hoe, put tree into soil, step around clod - hoe ...</p><p>It was a simple rhythm, and with Qui-Gon's help the row of trees was soon planted.</p><p>One thing puzzled the Master, however, when he compared his Padawan's work with his own. "Tell me, Qui-Gon - why is it that in your row the saplings stand tall, and in mine, their leaves drop as if they're dead tired?"</p><p>The Padawan shrugged. He downed the rest of the water, before he came up with an explanation. "Perhaps you didn't nudge them with the Force?"</p><p>"Nudge them with the Force?" Master Dooku echoed. He felt that tiny twist in his stomach when his Padawan was about to say something completely weird.</p><p>"Yes, like projecting, 'It's great to see you', via the Force," Qui-Gon explained. His look suggested, however, that he expected another lecture that the Living Force was not sentient, and that trees could not be pleased when greeted.</p><p>With a probe along the training bond to reassure himself that the boy wasn't up to mischief, Master Dooku resolved to give the suggested measure a try.</p><p>He scrutinized the sapling before him through the Force. The tiny plant's aura was very small.</p><p>//Well, it's great to see you, err, tree,// he addressed the forked twig with its ten leaves. Ridiculous actually, to deliver a speech to a tree, but on many state receptions the audience was equally dull. //You're part of a reforestation project spearheaded by the governments of Trionde, the Jedi Agricorps and several Triondean non-profit organisations. We expect you to grow fast and to fulfil your task of reducing the carbon dioxide emissions of Triondean industry, to better the planet's climate, and to provide a recreational area for the local population.//</p><p>
  
</p><p>To his surprise, he saw the leaves droop in earnest. He released his frustration about the disappointing reaction into the Force, before he quipped, "I'm afraid this didn't produce the intended effect ..."</p><p>"You frightened it," Qui-Gon said. Master Dooku was certain he heard a 'How can you be so dense!' tone in his Padawan's voice.</p><p>Qui-Gon crouched down in front of the sapling, poured some water around it and carefully touched the thin shoot.</p><p>It took a couple of minutes, but the plant recovered under his touch. It spread its leaves and turned them slowly, but purposefully towards the sun.</p><p>Master Dooku felt awed. He knew it was the Living Force at work, but it looked like magic. "What did you tell it?"</p><p>Qui-Gon looked up. "Nothing," he said and held out his hand then. "Give me your hand, Master."</p><p>Master Dooku laid his hand in Qui-Gon's equally grimy one.</p><p>"This is what I meant by projecting 'It's great to see you'," the Padawan explained, and through their training bond and their linked hands Master Dooku felt joy and acceptance. He felt truly welcome, and he couldn't help but smile at his apprentice in a very smitten way.</p><p>Qui-Gon smiled back. "It's the same for us as for the trees, Master. All you have to do is love them."</p><p>"I see," Master Dooku squeezed his Padawan's hand lightly before he let go, but he didn't break the eye contact. He was at a loss, however, on how to answer Qui-Gon's statement with some equally Masterly wisdom.</p><p>It was Qui-Gon who cast down his eyes, blushing slightly. "We better continue. There are still some rows to plant."</p><p><em>Four rows until sunset,</em> Master Dooku's analytical mind resumed, <em>which makes 36 rows a day, and there are three days left. So there are 112 rows left to learn how to love trees.*</em></p><p>He returned to his hoe. Picking it up, he dared to sigh. Loving a tree-hugger was so much easier than loving trees.</p>
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